Conservatorship

Conservatorship
is the management of a minor's or incapacitated adult's assets or
estate. It does not limit an individual's freedom like a guardianship
and the conservator has no decision-making authority over their
conservatee.

The majority of cases in Missouri, the
Public Administrator will be both guardian and conservator for an
individual. When a Public Administrator is conservator only it
indicates that the individual lacks the ability to manage their finances
and/or their assets can no longer be managed by the family without
conflict. This does not mean that the Public Administrators actively
look for these cases, but rather the family has hired attorneys to
settle their disputes.

Every year the Public Administrator must
generate and turn in a report to Probate Court. This is known as an
annual settlement and it shows the conservatee's financial status and
how their assets were distributed throughout the year. Failure in
completing this report may result in the termination of the
conservatorship. The ability do to so rests solely with the judge.